diff --git a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
index 8fc32babd3b..e25074f8d12 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/libraries/libxml2/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, zlib, python ? null, pythonSupport ? true }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, zlib, xz, python ? null, pythonSupport ? true }:
 
 assert pythonSupport -> python != null;
 
@@ -14,7 +14,12 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optionalString pythonSupport "--with-python=${python}";
 
-  buildInputs = stdenv.lib.optional pythonSupport [ python ];
+  buildInputs = (stdenv.lib.optional pythonSupport [ python ])
+
+    # Libxml2 has an optional dependency on liblzma.  However, on impure
+    # platforms, it may end up using that from /usr/lib, and thus lack a
+    # RUNPATH for that, leading to undefined references for its users.
+    ++ (stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isFreeBSD xz);
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [ zlib ];
 
@@ -26,7 +31,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   meta = {
     homepage = http://xmlsoft.org/;
-    description = "A XML parsing library for C";
+    description = "An XML parsing library for C";
     license = "bsd";
     platforms = stdenv.lib.platforms.linux;
     maintainers = [ stdenv.lib.maintainers.eelco ];